Photography. Artistry. Extraordinary

A while back I found a recipe on Pinterest that I just had to try. With most things concerning Pinterest, I had sort of forgot about it. I think a lot of us are guilty of the pin now, read later habit. I have been trying to get back on the exercise and eat right band wagon. Now that Chet has a regular full time day job we are finally on the same schedule after some 6 years! This makes it much easier to plan and make meals that we can both enjoy and eat the left overs for lunch. Anyway, with my renewed commitment to eating healthy and with the encouragement of knowing we’d have time together for meals I started going back through my food Pinterest board. I began formulating a meal plan for the week. I remembered this recipe and was excited to finally get around to making it. The original recipe was found from the minimalist baker, you can check out their blog here. They have lots of great recipes and their images are lovely.

I will admit that the photographs minimalist baker posted of these were what drew me in. Again with the pin now read later habit, I hadn’t paid much attention to what actual made up the recipe. Upon closer investigation as I was planning my weeks worth of meals, I was a bit skeptical. I couldn’t see how the variety of flavors and spices would work symbiotically. I decided to try anyways and boy I was wrong! These potatoes are delicious, even better they reheat the next day perfectly! Chet and I are huge garlic fans so we always end up putting in more garlic than what it calls for. The original recipe called for coriander, but as I did not have any in the house I substituted for basil. Fun fact: the leaves of the coriander plant are actually what we all know as cilantro. Knowing that I was even happier that I didn’t bother to go out and buy coriander as I have a distaste for cilantro.

I personally think that the sauce makes this dish. The sweet potatoes give a heavenly creamy base. This is complimented by the pop and crunch of the roasted chick peas roasted in spices that simultaneously add a savory profile and highlights the sweetness of the potato. The garlic and dill hummus sauce adds zing and a burst of flavor that helps to melt everything into savory goodness on your taste buds. Enjoy the images and please do give the recipe a try! You won’t regret it! This one will go in the cookbook and will be enjoyed for many years to come.

MEDITERRANEAN BAKED SWEET POTATOES

INGREDIENTS:

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp each cumin, dried basil, cinnamon, smoked paprika

Pinch of sea salt

garlic hummus sauce: (I made a double batch because I know how sauce obsessed we are so half this if you are not a sauce fiend)

1 container of sabra classic hummus

2 tsp dried dill (or sub 2 Tbsp fresh)

8 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 1 lemon

Optional: Sea salt to taste and a few teaspoons of fresh chopped parsley as a topping

Preparation:

Make your sauce first, I found that when it was given a chance to marinade the flavors together it was even better!

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl until they are well blended. Taste and adjust if needed. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a two large baking sheets with foil.

Rinse and scrub potatoes and cut in half length wise. Rub the sweet potatoes with a bit of olive oil and place face down on the baking sheet.

Drain and rinse your chick peas. Combine the 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil and 1/2 tsp of spices in a bowl. Stir until well combined. Add your rinsed chickpeas and toss to coat.

If you have large and thick sweet potatoes even after halving, place them in the oven for a good 20 minutes before you roast the chick peas. Large potatoes should cook for 40 minutes total. If you have smaller potatoes you can place both the potatoes and the chick peas in the oven for just 25 minutes.

Use a fork and poke the center of your potatoes to check. If your fork goes into the potato smoothly they are done. The chickpeas should be golden brown and should only bake for the 25 minutes.

While everything is cooking,chop parsley for garnish if desired.

Once potatoes and chickpeas are done, remove from oven. For serving, flip potatoes flesh-side up. Then top with chickpeas, the garlic and hummus sauce and parsley garnish. You can mash your sweet potatoes a bit to give a better surface for the chick peas to sit. Serve immediately.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day to you all! I hope that all of you got to enjoy it in some way. Chet and I had a very laid back weekend, relaxing and hanging out together. It was great to have some time together after a long week of travel and work. We made a delicious rack of ribs in the crock in pot which was doused in a Georgia mustard bbq sauce. For dessert I wanted something that was easy but still felt special.

A while back Chet and I had watched an episode of Friends (thanks for the good month plus of binge watching Netflix) which revolved around a stolen but delicious cheesecake. Every now and then the thought of a flaky graham cracker crust gracefully supporting a fluffy and airy medallion of cheesecake complete with raspberry swirl would consume me. I decided enough was enough and made us some mini cheesecakes. They are delicious but dangerous. As I type I am currently trying mentally block the churning in my stomach from the three (yeeeaaah….just three….) that I ate after dinner tonight. :)

Enjoy the images and give the recipe a try next time you crave cheesecake!

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp graham cracker crumbs (from 7 full sheets)

optional 1/4 cup of golden graham cereal (I just happened to have this and thought why not!)

1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

3 1 /2 Tbsp salted butter, melted

Raspberry Swirl

6 oz fresh raspberries

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Cheesecake filling

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened well but not melted

1 tsp lemon zest

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup sour cream

Directions

For the crust:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. However you decide, smash up your graham crackers and optional golden grahams. I used a potato masher. In a mixing bowl, using a fork, stir together graham cracker crumbs and sugar, then pour in melted butter and stir until evenly moistened. Add just under a tablespoonful to 24 paper lined muffin cups. Press crust firmly into an even layer. I used a mini mustard from one of my various hotel stays to press the crust firmly down. Bake in preheated oven 5 minutes then remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the raspberry swirl:

Add raspberries and 2 Tbsp granulated sugar to a food processor and pulse until well pureed, about 30 seconds – 1 minute. Press mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl (basically until there are only seeds remaining in strainer, you should get quite a bit out of it). Set aside.

For the cheesecake filling:

In a Kitchenaid mixer, mix together granulated sugar and flour. Add cream cheese and lemon zest, blend mixture just until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla and sour cream just until combined. Tap bowl forcefully against counter top, about 10 times, to release large air bubbles. Divide mixture evenly among cups over crust layer, adding about 1 tablespoon to each and filling nearly full. Jiggle pan to level cheesecake filling then dollop about 5 small circle of raspberry sauce over each cupcake. I used a butter knife to distribute the drops. Using a toothpick, swirl raspberry filling with cheesecake mixture to create a marbled design. I also created some with hearts by taking the toothpick and dragging it straight down through the center of each circle. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes until cupcakes are puffed and nearly set. They will crack, but once they deflate your cracks will fill in a bit. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely, then chill in refrigerator 3 hours, until set. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

The beginning of the year has been much busier than I anticipated. Lots of stuff going on at work and many personal matters that Chet and I have been taking care of. With that being said, I have been dedicating time to creating more food imagery though I haven’t had much time to post and share.

I am typically not adventurous when it comes to sea food. Admittedly there are some things when it comes to seafood that I just refuse to try because it looks strange and I haven’t opened my mind up to them. I’ve been trying to be better about this as I know that there are many other foods that I never enjoyed as a child that I savor now as an adult.

Over the Christmas holiday my sister made a meal (even after hours of travel) that she modified from The Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. The recipe originally calls for Bluefish fillets, but my sister substituted Wild Salmon fillets. The fillets are baked on a bed of thinly sliced potatoes dressed in herbs and olive oil. I was amazed at its simplicity and even more so at the flavor and rate that I gobbled it up. I thought this was a perfect opportunity for personal growth and a chance to learn something new in the kitchen.

The best part about this meal is the herb bed of potatoes that the fillet rests on. They crisp up as the fish cooks and marinades in the entire flavor. When my sister made it she cut very thin medallions with a kitchen knife. I had helped out with this process and determined it was way too time consuming for my taste, so I busted out my handy veggie slicer Kitchenaid attachment. This attachment works great for creating medallions. I’ve even made my own potato chips with it before. If you don’t have a Kitchenaid mixer you can also use a mandolin which you can pick up pretty cheap at most home good stores. The recipe calls for quite a bit of oil, so I decided to cut it back a bit and I didn’t think it made the dish dry. I also added more garlic because we are huge garlic lovers and used rosemary infused sea salt for the potatoes and fish. The recipe will be the non-adapted version. Enjoy the recipe and photos!

Slice potatoes very thin, barely thicker than potato chips using a knife, mandolin, or Kitchenaid mixer slicing attachment. Wash them in cold water, and then pat dry thoroughly with paper towel.

Put all the potatoes in a bowl with half the olive oil, half the garlic, half the parsley, several liberal pinches of salt and black pepper. Toss the potatoes until evenly coated. Cover the pan on the bottom and sides with the potatoes. Be sure to only create one layer with the potatoes.

When oven is preheated put your pan in the oven and let potatoes roast for 12-15 minutes until they are about halfway done. (mine began to brown in some areas depending on thickness)

After potatoes have roasted halfway, take out dish but do not turn off the oven. Gently salt and pepper your fillet to taste. Put your fillet skin down on top of the potatoes. Mix together the remaining olive oil, garlic, and parsley in a small bowl and then pour over the fish, distributing it evenly. Return dish to oven.

After 10 minutes take the dish out and use a spoon to scoop up some of the oil from the bottom of the dish and baste the fish with it. Loosen any potatoes that have crisped up and replace them with ones that have not. Return the dish to the oven and bake an additional 5-8 more minutes depending on the thickness of your fillet. A good way to judge if it is done is to stick a fork in the fillet and see if the meat flakes gently away from the fork.

Remove dish from oven and allow it to set for a few minutes. Cut and serve, being sure to scoop up all the delicious potatoes and juices. I also cut a few lemon wedges to have on the side to spritz on the fish.

Happy New Year to you all! 2014 was a pretty great year filled with lots of travel, weddings, beautiful sights, and fond memories. I look forward to 2015 and while some may view new years resolutions as trite, I enjoy the tradition of reflecting and goal setting. Here are a few of my 2015 aspirations.

1. Spend more time photographing and less time on the couch watching Netflix.

2. Make more of an effort to make healthy meals aka less cereal for dinner.

3. Continue to work on being more physically active. Charge up that fit bit and meet my daily goal of 15,000 steps.

4. Walk the dogs more often and have them properly groomed.

5. Enter Photographs into competitions and (hopefully) WIN!

6. Read more books/magazines/journals

7. Practice gratitude daily

8. Go within daily to work on self care and self reflection aka meditation

Long time since I was able to post something for you all! My apologies. Sometimes life just gets a little crazy and I can’t post as frequently as I would like. I had several wedding this year that I was either a bridesmaid in or traveled to be a part of. That didn’t leave much time for photo shoots, though I did get lots of beautiful images at the weddings. :)

That being said, I did get an opportunity to head south with my co-worker Angela (CHECK OUT HER BRAND NEW BLOG HERE!! She’s a great photographer!!) to photograph the beautiful fall colors and landscapes. Angela and I always like to make the most of our photo excursions, so we try to hit up a bunch of places when we go. For this trip we traveled to Baraboo, Wisconsin. Here we photographed several places including Devil’s Lake State Park, Pewit’s Nest State Natural Area, Hyde’s Mill, Natural Bridge State Park, and Baxter’s Hollow. The beauty of all these areas is that they are only about a 15 min drive in any direction to get to.

We headed out straight after work in hopes to capture some beautiful fall color illuminated by the last hour of sunlight. We stopped at Devil’s Lake State Park first, photographing around the lake and beach areas, and a bit on the trail. Admittedly, I spent a lot of time at first clicking away in the parking lot of all places. Angela had to remind me that there was SO much more to see. I guess I got distracted by all the color, I didn’t even care where it was located.

Devil’s Lake was beautiful. So much color, and of course there were lots of gorgeous rock formations, often covered in a thin layer of moss or lichen. The colors were astounding. Drives covered in a canopy of buttery yellow leaves, trails dotted with intensely bright red maple leaves beneath a layer of crunchy leaves past their prime. We stayed photographing until the sun was about shot, then we drove to the south part of the park. Here we stayed photographing the last bit of sun fading behind the bluffs. We decided that the south park would be a great place to head back to later, as we wanted to try photographing star trails and light painting.

From there we drove back to our hotel, the Campus Inn Motel. Angela and I have now agreed that on any future trips we are willing to pay a bit more for a hotel. The motel was shabby, to say the least. The man who I assumed owned it was a very kind man, but his kindness did not make up for the poor condition of the room we stayed in. Most of the time I’m a pretty easy to please person when it comes to travel. So long as I have a bed, I’m good. However, this room had a door that would jam so that neither inside or outside could the door be opened without a significant amount of fumbling. In addition to this, the only way the room was heated with a space heater…can anyone say FIRETRAP?? The tiling in the bathroom shower had black mold on it, and throughout the room were “jerry rigged” repairs in almost every direction you could look. Luckily we spent most of our time out photographing, so sleep was the only time we were there. It makes for a funny story now, but has definitely convinced me to upgrade for the next time around. :)

Once the stars were out we headed back to Devil’s Lake. I spent some time photographing star trails, while Angela began working on light painting an image of boats stacked up against the shoreline. A few shots in I joined Angela. I haven’t worked much with light painting, so this was new territory for me. Angela has worked with it in the past, so it was nice to have her expertise to draw from.

We got back to our hotel a little bit before midnight and went straight to bed as the next morning would be an early one. We were headed to Pewit’s Nest State Natural Area to capture early morning photos. Pewit’s Nest is a pretty fantastic place to visit, photography or not. Pewit’s Nest is a 30- to 40-foot deep gorge formed during the retreat of the last glacier. According to the DNR, when Glacial Lake Baraboo drained, Skillet Creek cut a narrow canyon through the Cambrian sandstone, forming a series of potholes and waterfalls. A variety of trees dotted the landscape providing a range of color from red, yellow, and orange. Apparently this area once was the location for a waterwheel. It was rumored that before the watermill was built, an individual lived in the solid sand stone like a gnome in a cavern. It is no wonder this place resonated with me…it has a history that is close to my heart! :) This was probably my favorite of all the places we visited during this trip. However, it was plagued with photographers. This was at one point a closely held secret, but it is clear that secret has gotten out as we were working around 5 other photographers. Everyone was courteous, or at least for a time courteous. It can be frustrating having to work so closely to other photographers, but I try to keep awareness with me that they are just trying to find that magic shot for themselves…and that it is here for everyone to enjoy. It is not exclusively my natural area. :) Angela had the fore thought to bring waders with so we could climb down the sandstone cliffs and into the water to get close and more interesting shots of the waterfalls and surrounding areas.

After we were finished at Pewit’s Nest we headed back to the hotel to grab our free breakfast and to come up with a game plan for the rest of the day. Somewhere in between eating breakfast and getting back to the hotel I felt really sick. I kept feeling like I was going to throw up. I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling so we decided to stay in the hotel room for a little bit and edit images while I rested up. Once I felt better we headed off towards Baxter’s Hollow. Once we were there we walked on a trail for a bit. There wasn’t much around to photograph and I began to get a feeling that we weren’t going to see much. We had been on the trail for about 45 minutes and we decided to head out so we could move on to other photo opportunities. Along the trail we ran into an older gentleman who we dubbed “gramps” who told us about a few other areas nearby that would be good photographic opportunities. We headed to Natural Bridge State Park, which was quite busy with other hikers and photographers. We weren’t terribly impressed with the trail, though the natural bridge was neat to see. I took a few pictures here, and then we made our way back to the car.

We drove to a few other places, all of which turned out to be nothing terribly special. We decided to cut our losses and make our way to Hyde’s Mill which was about an hour’s drive southwest of where we were. This was a place Angela was really wanting to get to, and with good reason! Hyde’s Mill is a stone dam and wooden watermill that was built in 1850. This was another frequently visited stop, though most of the other photographers were just using their cell phones and didn’t stop for very long. Angela and I waited until the golden hour so we could photograph less interrupted. I got some really nice shots of the sunset hitting the watermill and falls. After the sun went down we drove into town to grab dinner, then headed back to try our luck at light painting.

After the light painting we drove back to our motel and spent way too much time editing through our shots, until we realized it was WAY past our bedtimes. We hit the sack and woke up the next morning, fully intending to go back out for more sunrise photos. We quickly realized sleep was more precious and chose to sleep in. We headed back eventually to Devil’s Lake to photograph more of the park. I tried to focus more on macro shots, or different perspectives as most of my shots consisted of wide angle viewpoints. We also drove around some of the bluffs and got some nice shots of iconic fall rural Wisconsin scenes.

We had packed up all our gear before we headed out for the day, so once we were happy with everything we photographed we decided to head back home. The Packer game was on the radio and we listened to that on the way home. The last quarter I felt like I was constantly on the edge of my seat. At one point I had my head in my lap because I was so nervous about trying to get that last touchdown. Luck was in the air and the Pack pulled through, in the last three seconds scoring a game winning touchdown!! How fun to listen while we drove back home from an amazing weekend.

I had a blast on this trip and I think I came away with several beautiful images. I hope you enjoy them! Be sure to check out Angela’s blog too! It always amazes me the different perspectives two people can come away with, even if they are standing just feet apart from one another. Below are a few more fall scenes that I shot around in Appleton and also down by our family cabin in Boscobel, WI.

This weekend Chet and I bought probably the best watermelon I’ve had all summer maybe even in the past few summers. Watermelon is my favorite summertime food. There is nothing better to me than sitting on my porch slurping down some juicy, sweet watermelon to take the edge of the heat and humidity of a Wisconsin summer. This particular melon was huge and while I knew it wouldn’t spoil I figured I better think of multiple uses for the melon to be sure we could enjoy it to the last bite. Chet made some watermelon lemonade which was quite good. I ate probably half of the watermelon just cut up, snacking on it all weekend when I had a pang of hunger. We visited the farmers market and came away with a great haul. I love summer so much, there is always something growing and blooming and producing bounty for me to enjoy. I’m so grateful to live in a world where I get to enjoy these things. If I had my way I would quit my job and find myself a piece of land that I could work to provide for myself and live out the rest of my days in the beauty of it, carefree and always with a bit of dirt underneath my fingernails. For now I can only lean into that fantasy in the small moments of visiting the market and coming home with delicious produce. I was excited to bring home amongst the goodies a bag of micro-greens from Sun Brothers Naturals consisting of Broccoli, rose radish, mizuna, and scarlet mustard. Micro-greens are said to hold much more nutrients than their more developed selves. For more information about the emerging health benefits check out this article from NPR. I couldn’t wait to come home and make a tasty micro-green salad with watermelon. I decided to add a few sliced hydroponic tomatoes from the market as well as some feta cheese. I topped it off with a homemade balsamic vinegar and honey dressing. Essentially I added about a tablespoon and a half of honey to 2 tsp of quality balsamic vinegar. Soooooo good!!! Enjoy the images and next time you are at your farmer’s market keep an eye out for them so you can try to make your own micro-greens salad!

Happy late 4th to you all! We celebrated the 4th of July at our cabin this year which does not have any access to the internet, so I apologize for the late post. We are fortunate and are able to view Appleton’s firework show from our own backyard. It is so nice to beat the crowds and noise and just enjoy the beautiful fireworks while relaxing in our yard. I think the treeline grew a bit taller this year as many of the fireworks didn’t seem as high as they were in years past. Maybe eventually I will have to brave the crowds and make my way down to the park, but until then I’m happy not to. Enjoy the shots!